The Newborn Care Week is observed every year in the month of November from 15th to the 21st. Newborn Care Week aims to raise awareness and suggest the necessary measures to improve health of newborn babies, while boosting child survival rates. The neonatal period (the first 28 days of life) is the crucial period for child survival. According to current statistics, every year within the first 28 days of newborn life, approximately 2.6 million babies die and most of the deaths happen in the first week.

The reasons stated for this unfortunate situation by pediatricians all over the world are:

• Malnutrition
• Premature birth
• Delivery complexities
• Infections

When a baby is delivered, it must breathe normally, feed on its mother milk and stay warm. The care-giving environment must also be free of infection. Incubators should be on service based on demand. Skin to skin contact of the newborn with the mother is crucial. Speech and hearing impairments are often caused due to careless handling, and irresponsibility on behalf of the parents or caretakers. The right prenatal care is essential for healthy pregnancy and for a healthy newborn. Newborns who do not start breathing on their own by one minute after birth should receive positive pressure ventilation with room air by a self-inflating bag and mask.

They should be assessed for birth weight, gestational age, congenital defects and signs of newborn illness. Special care should be provided for sick newborns, those who are preterm and/or low birth weight, and those who are exposed or infected by HIV or have congenital syphilis.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Government of India has created plenty of mother and child care programs over the years. The most prominent ones among those are, Child Survival and Safe Motherhood program (1992), Reproductive and Child Health Program- phase 1 and phase 2, National Rural Health Mission (2005), Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health Framework (2013)